791 AH, 19-21/04
In the meanwhile news had been brought that Yalbughā al-Nāṣirī had encamped his forces at Khān Lājīn outside of Damascus, on Saturday, II rabīʿ 19. Thereupon the Egyptian and Syrian amirs prepared to give them battle, and went from Damascus to Barza on Monday, the 21st. They encountered al-Nāṣirī at Khān Lājīn, drew up their forces in battle order, and fought fiercely, each side showind unequaled endurance. Finally, the Egyptian army, being numerically superior and charging vigourously, forced al-Nāṣirī to retreat and to change his position. Al-Nāṣirī’s army then returned to the battlen charged the enemy, and met the sultan’s army a second time. They clashed with terrific force, each side again holding its ground and fighting vigorously with the loss of a number on both sides, until al-Nāṣirī retreated a second time. Again his army rallied and returned, and met the enemy a third time. On this occasion when he two armies dismounted and the battle was joined, amir ʾAḥmad ibn Yalbughā, amir of the council, reversed his lance and with his mamlūks and followers joined al-Nāṣirī. He was followed by the chamberlain ʾAydakār al-ʿUmarī with his battalions and mamlūks; then similarly by Fāris al-Ṣarghitmishī and by Shāhīn, master of the horse (ʾamīr ʾakhūr). When they wheeled and fought against the Egyptian army, the latter, now much weakened, retreated and fled ignominiously. As they first turned in flight a mamlūk of al-Nāṣirī’s army named Yalbughā al-Zaynī al-ʾAʿwar suddenly sprang upon Jārkas al-Khalīlī, the great master of the horse (ʾamīr ʾakhūr kabīr), struck him with his sword, killed him, and then stripped his body, which remained lying there naked until after several days a woman wrapped it in a shroud and buried it. The hands of the Turkumān and Arabs now reached out to plunder, and to kill or capture all of the feeing Egyptian army whom they could seize. Amir ʾAytamish al-Bajāsī rode swiftly on until he reached Damascus, where he entrenched himself in the citadel, while the Egyptian army scattered and disappeared as though it had never existed.
Al-Nāṣirī entered Damascus the same day with his army. He alighted at the castle in the race course and took over the citadel without fighting. Placing the remnants of the Egyptian army under guard, he had amir ʾAytamish brought down from the citadel, shackled both him and amir Ṭurunṭāy, governor of Damascus, and the returned them to the citadel as prisoners. he then searched out the rest of the amirs and mamlūks, capturing the same day amir Baklamish al-ʿAlāʾī with a number of the sultan’s prominent mamlūks, whom he also imprisoned in fetters in the citadel. The Turkumān and soldiers then turned their hands to general and unrestrained plunder; and this continued for several days.